Holiday rentals news - Heathrow's Terminal 5 hit by baggage problems

Heathrow's Terminal 5 hit by baggage problems

Heathrow's Terminal 5 was hit by problems with luggage conveyor belts yesterday. Passengers were unable to check in their baggage due to the mechanical failure.

Thousands of passengers were delayed as a result of the problems, reports the BBC. Heathrow's Terminal 5 is used by British Airways (BA), which said that no flights were cancelled. The problem was fixed at around 6pm.

Despite BA's hopes that passengers could fly out yesterday evening, one traveller told the news agency that up to 60 people spent the night in the terminal. "There were probably about 50 or so people that I could see just bedded down on the cold, hard floor," said Rob Mortimer, who missed his flight to New York.

Another passenger described the situation as "absolute chaos". The same words were used by a baggage handler, who said that over 1,000 pieces of luggage had piled up.

Airport operator BAA is confident that all those whose travel plans have been disrupted will be able to take flights from Terminal 5 today. The terminal's opening in March 2008 was blighted by similar problems - many flights were cancelled and thousands of bags were lost.

This story was brought to you by holidaylettings.co.uk, the UK's No.1 for holiday homes worldwide.

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